Hook, William R.K.; 1905 Bio, Pitkin County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/pitkin/bios/hookwrk.txt --------------------------------------- Donated May 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- William R. K. Hook William R.K. Hook, the oldest settler in the neighborhood of Emma, Pitkin county, this state, where he located in 1882, on a pre-emption claim of one hundred and fifty-seven acres of good land, one hundred and forty acres of which are naturally tillable, and where he has since conducted a prosperous and expanding stock industry and carried on general farming operations, is a native of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, where he was born on March 11, 1842. His parents, Peter U. and Elizabeth (Herman) Hook, were also natives of Pennsylvania, and passed the earlier years of their married life in merchandising, conducting an extensive trade in dry goods and groceries, and their later years in conducting a good hotel, winning prosperity in both lines of activity. Both are now deceased, and of their nine children only three are living: George, the postmaster at Grand Ridge, Illinois; Mr. Hook, of Pitkin county, Colorado; and Julia, the wife of J.B. Marshall, of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, where he is the editor of the Genius of Liberty, which was established in 1815 by John Irwin. Their mother died in 1864 and their father in 1869. Mr. Hook's educational advantages were few and limited in scope. At the age of seventeen he began to learn steamboat engineering at Brownsville, Pennsylvania, on the Monongahela river, devoting a year to the business at a compensation of two dollars and fifty cents a week, scarcely enough to pay his board. When the Civil war began he enlisted in the Union army as a member of Company F, Eleventh Pennsylvania Infantry, enrolling on May 8, 1861, and being mustered into the service at Washington, D.C., on July 29th following. He served three years, and was discharged at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on June 6, 1864, with the rank of first lieutenant. Soon after this he went to work as fireman on the Pittsburg & Connellsville Railroad, and at the expiration of fourteen months was promoted engineer. In this capacity he served the road until 1871, when he came west, and after passing some time at South Bend, Indiana, and Ottawa, Illinois, located at Marshall, Michigan, just after the great Chicago fire. There he remained seven years employed in the Wind Engine Works. In April, 1879, he came to Colorado and located at Leadville, where he worked at engineering and installing machinery, remaining until 1881, then moved to Aspen. Here he continued engineering in saw-mills for a year, then in 1882 took up his ranch as a pre-emption claim. Since that time he has lived on his land and given himself up wholly to its development, improvement and cultivation. His principal product is live stock, but he also raises good crops of hay and grain and other ordinary farm products. He is an active Republican in politics, and for years was an earnest working Odd Fellow. In 1880 he was married to Miss Olive M. Ausborne, a native of Wisconsin and daughter of John Ausborne, a native of Kentucky, his wife being a native of Vermont. They settled in Wisconsin in early life, and there for a number of years the father worked at his trade as a mill-wright, but later turning his attention to farming. The mother died in 1865 and the father in 1896. Mrs. Hook is a graduate of the Jacksonville, Illinois, high school. She taught school in that city and in Chicago in the East, and also at Leadville and Emma in this state. Her husband at one time conducted a dairy business at Aspen for a period of nine years. Approaching now the evening of life, they are comfortably fixed to pass their remaining days pleasantly, and are secure in the respect and good will of their fellow citizens wherever they are known. =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access.